Female election workers face increasing threats amid the spread of disinformation

Scripps News visits Surry County, North Carolina, where an election official has been the victim of disinformation and threats from Trump supporters who believe the 2020 election was rigged.

We hear from Michella Huff, who received calls and questions from the public about the validity of the 2020 election.

“I was cornered and harassed for 20 minutes,” she said of one confrontation. “Suddenly, election officials are people you can't trust and you can't believe.”

In one case in 2022, people pushing so-called “election integrity efforts” came to Huff's office and asked for access to voting machines, claiming they had evidence that the machines had contacted cell towers on Election Day 2020.

“I didn't expect to have to think about the safety of myself, my coworkers and my family,” Huff said. “But that started to become a reality.”

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Election administration is predominantly carried out by women. About 80% of poll workers in the US, including Huff's team, are women. 38% of these officials reported being subjected to threats, harassment or abuse. 7 in 10 say these threats have increased since 2020.

Watch the full report from Scripps News in the video above.